The epidemiology of gallstone disease in Rome, Italy. Part I. Prevalence data in men

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 402 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840080433

✦ Synopsis

A population of male civil servants in Rome, Italy, was investigated to determine the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic gallstone disease. Field activities started in December, 1982 and were concluded in July, 1984. Diagnosis was made using real-time ultrasonography. Participation in the study was 71.5%. Prevalence of gallstone disease was 8.2% and increased with age from 2.3% in the 20-to 25-year-old age group to 14.4% in the 60-to 69-year-old age group, based on both presence of gallstones and history of cholecystectomy. About one-third of the subjects with gallstone disease had previously been submitted to cholecystectomy. Only 7.7% of the subjects with presence of gallstones complained of at least one episode of biliary pain in the preceding 5 years. Frequency of "minor" dyspeptic symptoms was not different between men with and those without gallstones.

Gallstones have always been considered a typically female disease. Very few in v i m epidemiological studies have been aimed at establishing the prevalence of gallstones in male populations (1-3).

From February, 1981 to April, 1982, a population of female civil servants in Rome, Italy, was investigated by the Rome Group for the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cholelithiasis. Findings on the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic gallstone disease in this female population have already been published (4).

Using an identical method, the Rome Group for the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cholelithiasis investigated a male civil servant population from two government departments in Rome from December, 1982 to July,